- Rep. Burgess Owens and Rep. Seth Magaziner propose a bill to enhance federal collaboration against child trafficking.
- The bill mandates agencies adopt recommendations from a 2023 Government Accountability Office report.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Rep. Burgess Owens is teaming up with a Democratic colleague on a bill to close gaps in the federal government's efforts to stop child trafficking identified by a 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office.
That report, published in December 2023, found that two federal offices lack a collaboration mechanism specifically aimed at preventing child trafficking.
It recommended that cabinet secretaries over the Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime and the Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Trafficking in Persons ensure collaboration on combating child trafficking between both offices, which it said would "better enable the offices to overcome challenges specific to children and meet the distinct needs of child trafficking survivors."
A new bill sponsored by Owens, a Republican, and Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, would direct the agencies to adopt those recommendations within 180 days and establish goals for improving child trafficking prevention and survivor support.
"Child trafficking and exploitation is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable, and the government has a responsibility to use every tool available to fight back," Owens said in a press release. "Right now, federal efforts remain fragmented and unacceptably slow, and that failure allows pure evil to retain its foothold."
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 29,000 reports of missing children, one in seven of which "were likely sex trafficking victims," according to a 2025 report. Not every report of child sex trafficking involves missing children, however, and some children are exploited while still living at home.
"Protecting innocent children from trafficking and exploitation must be a top priority," Magaziner said in a statement. "I am proud to join this bipartisan effort to ensure every child is safe and every victim gets the justice and care they deserve."
Owens' bill was introduced on Thursday and assigned to the House Committee on the Judiciary. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate earlier this year by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The Senate version was assigned to a committee but has not yet been voted on.
